Bridging Faultlines in Diverse Teams

This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. In studying teams at large companies in Europe and the United States, finds that diversity and complexity are becoming the rule. Diverse teams bring to bear a range of experiences and attitudes to tackle companies' hardest challenges. Paradoxically, however, the very nature of team diversity often creates conditions that reduce teams' innovative capacity. Illustrates many failures in collaboration and knowledge-sharing that resulted from faultlines--subgroups or coalitions that emerge naturally within teams, typically along demographic lines such as age, gender, and functional background, yet finds that some teams were able to collaborate and share knowledge despite the presence of faultlines. A defining factor was the behavior of the team leader and, in particular, the extent to which the leader was task-oriented or relationship-oriented. Where it is likely strong faultlines will emerge, many leaders tend to encourage team members to come together. However, simple socializing can make people's differences more apparent and cause faultlines to solidify. Recommends that leaders vary their leadership style according to how long a team has been together and outlines four steps for successful functioning of diverse teams: leaders should diagnose the likely extent of faultlines in a new team; focus on task orientation when a team is newly formed; consider when a switch in leadership style would be most appropriate; and finally, build a relationship-oriented style. Switching from task orientation to relationship orientation will be successful only when a team has developed a clear protocol for communication and coordination and an established operational structure.

• Collaboration and teams
• Leadership
• Hiring and recruitment